The present invention relates to a heat-shrinkable laminate tubular film showing an adequate rigidity and a favorable stretchability and comprising a gas-barrier layer of a copolymer of vinylidene chloride and at least one layer of a polyamide or a thermoplastic polyester having a specified thickness.
More in detail, the present invention relates to a heat-shrinkable laminate tubular film comprising a gas-barrier layer of a copolymer of vinylidene chloride, outer layers of a polyolefin, at least one intermediate layer of a polyamide or a thermoplastic polyester both of which show a crystal melting point of not more than 240.degree. C. and have a specified thickness, and adhesive layers disposed between any of the above layers.
For packaging the foodstuffs non-uniform and irregular shape, a method of heat-shrink packaging is generally applied, and since the thus packaged foodstuff should be preserved safely for a long time period, it is necessary that the packaging used in such a packaging is impermeable to gases, particularly to gaseous oxygen, in other words, the packaging material must have a gas-barrier property.
As the heat shrinkable gas-barrier film for packaging the foodstuffs, a single film of a copolymer of vinylidene chloride (hereinafter referred to as VDC) has been utilized. However, because of the poor mechanical properties of the single film of VDC at low temperatures, a composite laminate film comprising a gas-barrier layer of VDC and an outer layer of polyolefin has been developed. For instance, Japanese Patent Application Laying-Open No. 58-128821 (1983) discloses a laminate film comprising a gas-barrier layer of VDC and outer layers of a copolymer of ethylene and vinyl acetate (hereinafter referred to as EVA), and the disclosed film has solved the problem of the poor mechanical properties at low temperatures. However, because of the lack of rigidity in such a film, such a laminate film cannot exhibit a satisfactory operational processability in packaging foodstuffs.
As a result of the present inventors' studies, the problem of the lack of rigidity has been solved by incorporating a layer of a polyamide or a thermoplastic polyester between the gas-barrier layer and the outer layer of polyolefin of the laminate film.